


Til Death Do Us Part

by PastelRaccoon



Category: Persona 4, Persona Series
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Angst, Established Relationship, F/F, Gen, Not Beta Read, Prompt Fic, Romance isn't the main focus here, Short One Shot, but it is there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-22
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23261926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastelRaccoon/pseuds/PastelRaccoon
Summary: They’ve fought Shadows countless times, but nothing could have prepared Rise for a full-blown zombie infestation.My contribution for the Yuri Garden Discord Lit Club's "5 Day Infected Writing Prompt Challenge!"
Relationships: Kujikawa Rise/Shirogane Naoto
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Til Death Do Us Part

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt was Infected; had to write 300 words a day over five days to make a continuous story. Here was the result for me uwu

They’ve fought Shadows countless times, but nothing could have prepared Rise for a full-blown zombie infestation. She could remember when it all started, clear as day. She was on tour, giving her all in her last performance before she took a much needed break, until a chilling scream tore through the crowd. The sound cut right through the yelling of the crowd so well that it sent a shiver down her spine and her throat closed up on reflex.

Everyone in the crowd had gone deathly silent. The only sounds that could be heard was the backup track to Rise’s performance until panic rushed up to the front of the crowd like a wave. Rise’s eyes immediately widened and she snapped into action. Her eyes quickly scanned the sea of people to locate the cause of the mass terror.

_‘What?’_ Her body froze in place when she caught a hole in the crowd. There, it looked like someone had fallen and another person was hunched over them on the floor. Something wasn’t right. A second, terrifying shriek pierced through the rest of the panic. With her eyes glued to the two bodies, she couldn’t pull her eyes away as she watched the one pinning down the other tear into their abdomen.

_‘What the hell is happening?’_

Rise felt the color drain from her face as people fell prey to the infected one after the other right in front of her. Fear still tightly gripped her heart when she finally managed to turn and run backstage in hopes of safety. Her thoughts were racing as she dashed down the eerily empty halls. She ducked into her changing room without a second thought. A relieved sigh made her shoulders droop before she braced herself against the door and dropped to the floor.

“This is crazy… This can’t be real!” Rise said to herself while holding her head in her hands. Panic caused her heart to beat at a frantic pace as she tried to wrestle her thoughts together.

_‘I have to keep calm. I’ve fought worse in the TV World.’_ She dragged herself up to her feet and nearly felt her knees buckle from how hard they were shaking. Rise took a deep breath to steady herself before heading to the makeup area where her bag was draped over the back of the chair. _‘But this is the real world. I don’t have Himiko.’_

“But I do have someone that’ll know what’s going on.”

She plunged her hand into its contents to retrieve her phone. She hurriedly scrolled through the list of contacts until she reached Naoto’s number. The line began to ring loudly in her ears and everything inside her prayed she was okay. She held her breath in worried anticipation.

“Rise!”

The ringing suddenly stopped and Naoto’s familiar voice sounded through the receiver.

“Naoto! Oh, thank God! What the hell is happening?”

“I don’t know! Not yet anyways! For now, get somewhere safe! I’ll--” Naoto’s words were suddenly cut off and Rise could hear gunfire rather close to the phone. Rise assumed it was Naoto’s own gun being fired. A moment of silence passed and Naoto’s voice reappeared. She sounded out of breath and panting broke up each word. “I’ll be there as soon as possible. Stay safe, okay?”

“Okay…” Rise swallowed hard against the large lump in the back of her throat. She took a slow deep breath and gripped her phone tighter. “And hey, Naoto?”

“What is it?”

“I love you…”

“I know.” Her reply was amazingly calm and it soothed her frayed nerves. “I love you too.”

A weak smile pulled on the corners of Rise’s lips when the line went silent. That was when she realized the uncomfortable, unnatural silence that surrounded her. Usually the venue would be filled to the brim with the sounds of a bustling crowd rumbling through the walls, or at least the tapping of someone’s shoes against the floor in the halls outside. Hearing it all gone made a pit open up in her stomach.

_‘Safety, safety. Where’s the safest place in the venue?’_ Rise thought while fighting to keep herself composed like Naoto had asked her. She racked her brain, pressed her knuckles against her forehead, then snapped her fingers once she realized. _‘The security room! Of course! There may even be someone there that’ll help me!’_

Without wasting another moment, Rise cracked open the door to peer outside. Silence answered her and she gulped down her fear before hurrying out the door.

The heels from her performance outfit clicked and echoed back at her in the empty hallway. Room after room passed by her in a blur. She didn’t care about anything else; she needed to last until Naoto got there.

Rise nearly tripped as she took a hard right around a corner and her eyes widened before she collided into the back of another person, causing her to fall onto her rear with a yelp. The well-tailored suit they wore was familiar and she quickly recognized them as her manager, Inoue. Relief suddenly washed over her at running into a friendly face. Bouncing back up to her feet, she grinned and placed a hand on his arm.

“Inoue; thank God you’re safe! We need to get to the security room together!”

Chills suddenly ran up her spine when it sounded like he snarled and groaned at her words. Rise’s body froze on the spot when he tightly grabbed her wrist. It definitely wasn’t Inoue anymore; its face appeared rotted and a foul odor she didn’t notice before wafted off its body. The smell of decay overpowered her every sense.

Finally breaking through the new wave of terror, she tried to pull her arm from its grasp with little success. The infected tightened its grip before lunging in to dig its teeth sharply into her forearm. Intense, fiery pain shot up her arm to her shoulder. A scream ripped through her throat and she reflexively shoved hard at the creature with all her weight. With a deafening crack, its arm broke at the wrist, effectively freeing her from its grasp.

Rise swallowed down the urge to vomit as she threw its severed hand to the floor before taking off down the hall towards Security. She cradled her bloodied arm against her chest; the wound throbbed and burned more with every step she took. Her vision began to swim and it felt as if cotton suddenly filled her head when she finally saw the steel door of the Security Room.

She firmly pushed with her shoulder to get it open. At this point, Rise wasn’t sure if it was a blessing or a curse to see the room completely empty. She slowly dropped herself onto the wheeled desk chair that sat in front of an array of monitors. Bile suddenly crept up the back of her throat as another throb shot up her arm.

Rise choked it down while digging her phone out of her skirt’s pocket. With her injured arm resting against her stomach, she sent a quick text to Naoto saying where she was, until the room spun and twisted. It was then that her vision went black.

* * *

“Rise! _Rise!”_

Naoto’s muffled voice was what dragged her from the abyss. Her eyes sluggishly opened up and her blurred vision cleared to show the concerned detective. The other’s navy blue eyes were frantically looking her over until they fell onto the gruesome bite on her arm. Rise watched as her face drained of any and all color.

“God, no.” Naoto’s voice barely came out as a whisper. “You’re… Damnit! If only I could have been here sooner!”

“I’m sorry,” Rise panted and croaked out. “I didn’t stay safe, but I’m sure you will, Naoto.”

Naoto started to sound farther away and Rise had to admit one thing: she was scared. But she knew there was only one way to make sure the one she loved stayed safe. She sniffled and fired a feeble smile up at the other.

Naoto’s eyes glistened with tears that threatened to fall. She leaned down to press her forehead against Rise’s. Her free hand rested along her jawline while the other tightened around the grip of her pistol. She couldn’t contain them anymore as scorching tears rolled down her cheeks. She closed the small distance between them to plant one final kiss against Rise’s lips.

The detective pulled back and sat on her feet. A vast display of emotions swirled behind her gaze when she shakily brought her hands up and aimed her firearm directly at Rise.

“Everything will be okay.” Rise gave her a frail, yet reassuring smile.

“Rise…” Naoto’s voice cracked when she brought her other hand up to her pistol’s grip to steady herself. “I’ll never stop loving you; don’t forget that.”

“I won’t.” Rise closed her eyes, let out a few more weak pants, then heard the click of her gun’s hammer being pulled back. “I love you so much.”


End file.
